Week Nine Assignment Three

            The QRI-5 reading inventory and the DIBELS reading assessments are both useful tools towards analyzing students’ progress in basic early literacy skills. These assessments are used by trained professionals who try to locate any problems are flaws in a child’s basic reading skills. Once these problems are labeled, these professionals are now find appropriate instructional tools to help students progress to the next level and feel confident as readers.

            Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 is very similar to a running record. The student first reads a word list that is two grades below their grade level. If the student is able to complete the list at an independent level then the student will proceed to the next grade word list. Once a child is able to reach an instructional level with the world list then they will begin an expository or a narrative text reading assessment. The examiner will ask the student questions relating to the text in order to determine how much prior knowledge the student has on the subject matter. The student will then proceed towards reading the passage to the best of his or her ability. After the reading of the passage is complete, the examiner will ask the student questions about what he or she has just read.

            The QRI-5 is able to determine what level the students reading ability is on and how much comprehension the student have after reading the passages provided. This assessment is scored like a running record in terms of fluency, miscue analysis and comprehension after reading any type of text. The examiners will be able to determine if the student has word identification trouble, comprehension difficulty and how fast, slow or on target their reading fluency is.

            DIBELS reading assessment is comprised of seven different measures. These different measures include phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. Each of these different parts plays an important role in a child’s basic early literacy skills. There are different types of assessments that are used to measure the different parts of a child’s reading ability. Without the proper function of each of these subcategories a child will have great difficulty moving forward in reading and increasing the grade level of which he or she is able to read at. The examiner usually demonstrates the behavior they are seeking prior to the child being assessed. If a child needs to be prompted for an answer the examiner will ask the student one time of what they are looking for. These assessments are also timed and require a great deal of attention for a short period of time for each student.

            The QRI-5 and the DIBELS reading assessments are similar in many different ways. These two reading assessments are seeking for behaviors of good readers. They are observing if a child is able to read fluently without much prompt from the teacher or examiner. These assessments also test for a students’ comprehension on the text of which they were asked to read. Fluency and comprehension are two of the most important parts of reading. There are, however, many more parts of a child’s reading ability that can be tested but the idea of fluency and comprehension is what the QRI-5 and DIBELS have in common.

            Although the QRI-5 and DIBELS are very similar they are different in a few ways. The QRI-5 assessments take a much longer period of time for completion. The DIBELS reading assessments are usually 2-3 minutes long for the student to take the assessment and for the examiner to score the child’s progress. DIBELS reading assessment has a lot of different parts of reading skills and is extremely specific about which type of skill the examiner will be testing for. QRI-5 reading assessment is broader in determining how a child’s reading skills are and for which grade level they are reading form.

            These assessments can be used on a daily or weekly basis in the classroom. Teachers should be testing students’ literacy progress at a very young age to ensure that the students’ do not fall behind and that they are able to keep up with the age-appropriate material. While the teacher has the other students working on a group assignment or on an independent task, he or she can grab one other student to complete a QRI-5 or one of the DIBELS reading assessments and test the child at the same time.

It is necessary for a teacher to test students with reading difficulties on each of the different parts of the DIBELS reading assessments. These assessments are extremely specific and will pinpoint the exact location of the students reading struggles. Once a teacher is able to determine which part of reading skill the student is having difficulty with, he or she can set up alternate instruction or send material home for the parents to work on with their child. By determining the level at which the teachers students are at, the teacher can then being to plan his or her instruction properly and be able to group students based on reading abilities.